Oscar facts

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IN 1929, the first Academy Awards ceremony was attended by 250 people, paying just a few dollars each for the privilege, at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. The prizegiving lasted a mere five minutes. Today’s awards have standing ovations that last longer.

Compare that with the 4 hours 23 minutes of the 2002 ceremony. Was it an excess of standing ovations? No, it was Whoopi Goldberg, whose last two hosting gigs went over four hours.

The Oscars’ debut on the TV network NBC, hosted by Bob Hope in 1953, was kept to its allotted time by cutting off the final